UH Mānoa's Rehabilitation Counselor Education Program wins DOE grant

UH Mānoa's College of Education department of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Science (KRS) was recently awarded a five-year training grant in the amount of $750,000 by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services to address the nation’s continuing rehabilitation personnel needs by providing a master’s level training program. The program will assist students, the State-Federal vocational rehabilitation system, and individuals with disabilities.

The goal of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) Long-Term Training program is to increase the number of qualified rehabilitation counselors and to upgrade the skill of practicing rehabilitation professionals available for employment in the State-Federal rehabilitation system.

According to the RSA, there is an acute need for qualified personnel in the field of rehabilitation. There are critical personnel needs within state rehabilitation agencies and the community rehabilitation programs they make agreements with to provide vocational supported employment and independent living services.

Brenda Cartwright, UH Mānoa KRS associate professor and Rehabilitation Counseling Education Program Coordinator, said, “I am excited that current students in the program will be able to continue their course of study. They will receive funding for tuition and at least one opportunity per year to network with other professionals in the field by participating in a national conference. We have a greater opportunity with a newly designed curriculum via distance learning approaches to attract students from the nation and the Pacific Basin into our program.”

The RCE program is the only such program in the Pacific Basin and the nation accredited by the Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE) that serves predominantly Asians and Pacific Islanders.